Ontake-area resorts suffering month after deadly eruption

As Monday marks a month since the deadly eruption of Mount Ontake in central Japan killed 57 hikers and left six others missing, the next victim may be the local economy mostly dependant on tourist revenue, according to local officals.

In the past month since the Sept. 27 eruption, inns, restaurants and resort facilities around the 3,067-meter volcano straddling Nagano and Gifu prefectures have suffered cancellations, causing a headache to locals.

Especially hit hard are ski lodges, the main source of revenue for the areas during winter. They still remain undecided over whether they can open skiing grounds without any business prospects.

To help those struggling businesses, Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura and Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura were scheduled to appear in a tourist promotion event later Monday in front of Nagoya Station.

Efforts to recover the bodies of hikers buried under ash from Mount Ontake’s eruption last month were called off until next year due to snow, the Nagano Prefectural Government said Oct. 16.

At 11:52 a.m. Monday, when the eruption occurred a month ago, people in the town of Kiso and the village of Otaki were scheduled to observe a moment for the victims and those whose bodies remain unrecovered.